Assam government to set up separate directorate for mid-day meal streamlining

Guwahati: Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said that his government would set up a separate directorate to streamline the mid-day meal scheme. As a part of the programme, the government will also directly transfer money to the School Management Committees (SMCs) to procure utensils and adopt other measures to ensure success of the scheme in the state, Gogoi said while reviewing the performance of Sarba Siksha Abhiyan (SSA).

The Chief Minister also directed the state Education Minister to take up teachers’ training programmes on a mission mode so that they could impart quality teaching to the students.

He also asked the Education Minister to fill up the posts of teachers at the Lower Primary (LP) and Middle Elementary (ME) schools.

Education Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma apprised the Chief Minister that 15,000 LP and ME teachers’ posts of the newly provincialized 8,000 schools would be filled up by March 31 next year.

He also said that out of 5,898 additional classrooms construction work, 92 percent has been completed along with 75 percent of the 6209 headmasters’ rooms and almost 100 percent of the 12,125 separate girls’ toilets in schools across the state.

Gogoi also discussed district-wise financial and physical achievements of SSA for 2012-13 which included opening of 56 new schools, free textbook and uniform distribution.